Volume 53 (2019): Edition 1 (March 2019)

Botanical drawings of Fortunata Obrąpalska are an unknown part of work of this eminent Polish artist photographer. In the special collections of the Library of Botanical Garden of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, there are 523 drawings of Fortunata Obrąpalska that she created in the years 1955-1983. The simple Bristol board ink drawing technique depicts in schematic, but at the same time perfect way, plants and natural phenomena like withering of underground plant organs, frost-damaged shoots or impact of wind on plants in coastal areas. The drawings are a proof of her excellent knowledge of natural objects, impressive drawing skills and imagination. They also show this artist’s great sensitivity to beauty.

We report mycodiversity of the different forest types of the Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India. The results drawn here are based on the study carried out in the different forest sites of the Garhwal Himalaya during the rainy season from 2013 to 2015. We collected a total of 323 specimens, including 310 specimens belonging to Basidiomycota and 13 to Ascomycota. Furthermore, 212 specimens of Basidiomycota were identified and grouped into 33 families, 75 genera and 198 species, while 13 specimens of Ascomycota were grouped into 7 families, 7 genera and 11 species. 127 species were found in oak dominated temperate broadleaved forest, while 42 were collected from coniferous and 19 from the mixed woodland composed mainly of Quercus, Myrica, Rhododendron and Pinus trees in middle to higher hills, and Shorea robusta and Tectona grandis in the dipterocarp forests of lower hills. In terms of fungal species distribution in these forests, Amanitaceae, Russulaceae and Boletaceae were found most dominant in oak dominated forests, whereas Tricholomataceae and Cantharellaceae were commonly found in Pinus and Cedrus dominated forests and those belonging to family Cortinariaceae – in mixed forests. Species belonging to the families Agaricaceae, Amanitaceae and Tricholomataceae were found dominant in dipterocarp forest in the lower Himalayan region. The majority of species belonging to all families were found near lower to mid range altitude, which may result from the overlapping effect of atmospheric temperature and climate. The members of seven families, i.e., Russulaceae, Amanitaceae, Tricholomataceae, Boletaceae, Cantharellaceae, Cortinariaceae and Gomphaceae, were found as main ectomycorrhizal forming species from the elevation range of 500-2800 m a.s.l., in all four forest types.

The paper shows the results of floristic investigations of 12 islands and several skerries of the inner part of SW Finnish archipelago, situated within a square of 11.56 km². The research comprised all vascular plants – growing spontaneously and cultivated, and the results were compared to the present flora of a square 10 × 10 km from the Atlas of Vascular Plants of Finland, in which the studied area is nested. The total flora counted 611 species, among them, 535 growing spontaneously or escapees from cultivation, and 76 exclusively in cultivation. The results showed that the flora of Seili and adjacent islands was almost as rich in species as that recorded in the square 10 × 10 km. This study contributed 74 new species to this square. The hitherto published analyses from this area did not focus on origin (geographic-historical groups), socioecological groups, life forms and on the degree of threat of recorded species. Spontaneous flora of the studied area constituted about 44% of the whole flora of Regio aboënsis. In the studied flora, 22 species threatened in Finland were found.

Physalis angulata has been discovered and recorded for the first time in the flora of Libya. This species was collected from the Bilash′har region belonging to the city of Tajura, about 20 km east of Tripoli. P. angulata is easily identified by its small yellow flowers without central dark spots in the center, and by pedulus globose berry enclosed within an inflated bladdery fruiting calyx. Detailed descriptions, photographs, habitat and ecology are provided for easy identification, and to facilitate further identification of this species and to warrant its future detection.

Data documenting the occurrence of epiphytic bryophytes in the urban forests of the Wroclaw city were collected and reported for the first time. Research was carried out in 2015-2016, in forest areas situated within the city administrative boundaries, to find whether some epiphytic species reported from the Wroclaw environs in the 19th century and presently considered to be primeval forest relicts occur in urban forests. The survey was carried out using the established network of 50 study plots randomly scattered within the urban forested areas. In total 42 species (4 liverworts and 38 mosses) were recorded on 467 trees; three of them are primeval forest relicts. In this paper, the host-tree preferences, distribution in the individual forests, relative frequency, abundance and exposure to compass directions of the studied taxa are analysed. Of the species described, only 17 are obligatory epiphytes, while 22 of them are character forest species. However, 82% of the latter were noted on a small number of tree trunks. Two moss taxa, Hypnum cupressiforme and Platygyrium repens, were most frequently found (on 76 and 50% of the trees, respectively). Among the species recorded in the studied area, there are five that have been showing some expansive tendencies in Europe in recent decades. The potential ability of these species to spread in urban areas is discussed in relation to their general ecological requirements.